New York Times bestselling author. Slow cooking expert.

Tex Mex is a fusion of Mexican inspired food mixed with Southern American influences. It's mostly seen in border states like Arizona and Texas. I live in California, and even though I'm not on the Baja coast, I'm finding more and more restaurants are serving this style of food.

And it's delicious!

There's nothing like a big hunk of meat to warm you up on a chilly day. This is man-pleasin' food.

That sounds totally sexist. I'm sorry. The thing is that my brother, dad, and Adam all ate big helpings.

Although I only used 2 pounds of meat, the beans and the corn really stretches both the servings and the number served.

If you have a larger hunk of meat, that's okay --- there's more than enough liquid in the pot to handle double or 2.5 x the amount of meat.

I have a big, ol' hunk of meat, some Rotel tomatoes and black beans in the slow cooker right now. Hoping to make arepas and use the meat and beans for filling. If I run out of time and motivation tonight, I may use your idea and add some corn and put it over baked potatoes.Gotta stay warm. It was 29 degrees when I woke up yesterday.

I am not sure if you know that Bush's chili beans are not gluten free. I have noticed that your stuff normally is..... so just thought I would mention that. All Bush's products are gf with the exception of the "chile" line.

I made this and it was really delicious! The only change I made was to put 5 red potatoes cut in eighths in the bottom of the pot before putting the meat and then the other stuff on top. I also made the tsp of chipotle powder a little "scant" and the heat level was perfect with the Rotel and chili beans. This is a keeper, I'll definitely make it again. Would be great for potluck if you take the meat out and pre-shred it and add it back before serving.

I have to tell you - we had this on Saturday night. It was really good, but that's not what I have to tell you. I had the leftovers for lunch today and it was AWESOME! I couldn't believe how good it was, and SOOO easy to make! I am definitely adding this to my monthly recipe rotation! Stephanie, you are the BOMB! :-D

About the Bush's chili beans- I have yet to email the company, but I also read the back of the can and thought they were safe. I did notice that an older can of their chili beans that I keep on my shelf for the recipe on the back DOES have wheat flour in it for the thickener. The newer cans that I have contain the corn starch for the thickener. I am guessing that they just did not update the information on their website. I am going to send off an email, though, because I love the ease of their chili beans.

http://www.bushbeans.com/en_US/products/dietary_considerations/ "All BUSH'S® products made after May, 2010 are gluten-free.

We have recently reformulated our Chili Beans products and our Chili Magic Chili Starter products to no longer contain wheat flour. The ingredient statements on these products now state Modified Corn Starch. Due to store inventory rotation and other elements beyond our control, we still urge you to check the labels before consuming these products if you have gluten restrictions."

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